Arrived in Spokane in the late afternoon but before finding my hotel I visited two spectacular parks: Manito and Riverside. The former was designed by the firm that did NYC’s Central Park while the latter was done for the 1974 World’s Fair. Both are varied, beautiful, well-maintained and very appealing.
These parks were so nice that I started the day, even before eating breakfast, by visiting them again. After a quick walk around Riverside Park I started to head out of town by visiting Gonzaga University. I’d heard of Gonzaga for its law school but never even knew where it was located. Pretty nice campus in what I know consider a very nice town.
I couldn’t loiter though. I’d just learned there was a cold front approaching with the threat of snow … I needed to hurry out of town and try to outrun the storm. My goal was to at least be out of mountain country before the bad weather arrived. Snaking through the mountains of Idaho I followed the path of the Great Northern along rivers, down valleys, and through lots of tiny old railway towns.
When I finally hit the Rockies my reaction was again “Wow!” Sure I’d been driving around in mountains but small mountains by comparison. As I wove through western Montana I came across such treats as Kootenai Falls Park with it’s quarter mile long series of cascades and really long suspension bridge.
So cool!!!
I crossed and looked back and there I saw evidence of the Great Northern!
It was here that the weather caught up with me. While I had intended to visit Glacier NP but it wasn’t going to be possible. I was more concerned with staying on the road, seeing where I was going, and generally staying alive. Trees were down and several were across the road though I was able to drive around them all. Larger trucks could not. Called 911 to report a tree I saw fall on power lines. Pretty scary.
Finally, when I got through Glacier and landed on the prairies, everything grew calm. The roads dried. The snow stopped. Dusk arrived later. Odd how the Big Sky affects evening light especially since I had gained an hour.
I was quite happy to finally pull into my 50 year old O’Haire Manor Motel!
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